Territory



(No Model!) A. D. AOERS.

v CABINET. No. 563,215. Patented June 30, 1896.

I I I I I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR D. AOERS, OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA TERRITORY, ASSIGNOR TO MARGARET A. ACERS, OF SAME PLACE,

CABINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 563,215, dated June 30, 1896. Application filed May 1, 1895. Serial No. 547,717| (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR D. ACERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Norman, in the county of Cleveland and Terri In the accompanying drawings, on which like reference-letters indicate corresponding parts, Figure 1 represents a perspective front view of a cabinet having portions broken away from the detachable front which is applied thereto; Figs. 2 and 3, details of construction and arrangement of parts.

I will proceed to describe my invention as illustrated in connection with a bolt and screw cabinet, in order to conveniently illustrate its advantages and mode of operation.

I desire to be understood, however, that its use is not limited to the construction and purpose herein shown and described, but it can be applied to cabinets for other purposes, and with a different system of numbering, according to the class and style of the contents of the case, in which other articles than bolts and screws are adapted to be stored and reference to is required.

Referring to the drawings, the letter A represents a frame in which are mounted sliding doors B, which in this form are adapted to slide horizontally upon the parting-strips a, which separate the horizontal rows. At some portion of the frame, such as the middle, the parting-strips a are cut away or otherwise arranged to allow the doors B to slide vertically instead of horizontally. A vacant space I) is left to provide for this vertical movement of the doors. This space may be either at the top of the vertical row, the center, or elsewhere. NVhen the said space is filled by a locking door or plate 0, and locked in place, all the doors in the said front are likewise locked against any sliding'movement. When the locking-door is removed, however, leaving this clearance-space opposite the vertical row, and also opposite one of the horizontal rows, any one of the pigeonholes in the cabi net D, to the rear of the said front, may be exposed; and, furthermore, only one pigeonhole at a time can thus remain open. For instance, when the clearance-space is at the top of the vertical row of doors and opposite the upper horizontal row, it may be desired to open a hole A at the right and below the clearance-space b. To do this, the door in the vertical row on line with A is raised, transferring the clearance-space to the row in which A is located. Then the two doors A and the adjacent one to the left may be slid to the left, transferring the clearancespace to the pigeonhole formerly covered by the door A, giving access thereto. Any pigeonhole in the front may thus be exposed, and only that one at the same time, by sliding the vertical doors up or down, so as to leave the clearance-space in the horizontal row in which is located the pigeonhole it is desired to open. lfhen one or more of the doors in the latter row are moved horizontally, as above described.

The doors B are somewhat higher than the doors B, depending on the thickness of the parting-strips Ct. The object is to bring the top of each door B on a line with the top of the strip a, and thus form a continuation of the track. The door B will thus slide horizontally, without any difficulty, from the parting-strip a, more or less upon the respective door B, when the clearance-space is temporarily located directly over the particular door B. In brief, I move one or more doors in one direction, say, vertically, and one or more doors in another direction, say, horizontally, in order to open one of the pigeonholes guarded by said doors. I

The amount of movement is determined by the height of the door in one direction and the length of the door in the other, and is preferably but one height and one length of a door B in each instance.

It is evident that any convenient form of parting-strip may be used to serve as a track on which the doors may slide, butI have illustrated a tongue-and-grooved piece in one of the detail figures as a convenient form.

In order to guide the doors in the vertical row, I may also provide a tongue-and-groove connection at each side of the vertical row with the respective adjacent row, as indicated in the figure. This prevents danger of the doors in the vertical row falling outward while being shifted. 7

To provide a read y reference to this front, I have indicated a system of numbers, or other characters, which I have placed upon one horizontal strip and one vertical strip,

respectively. Thus, in case the cabinet is to be used for screws or bolts, the numbers in the vertical row may indicate the diameter of the bolt, and the numbers in the horizontal row the length of the bolts. For instance, the belts in the fourth row may all be onehalf inch, as indicated by the fraction a on the strip opposite the fifth row, and increases in length from (say) one and one-half to four and one-half inches, as indicated by the horizontal row of figures. Any row may bear the said numbers or characters, or they may be located opposite the doors on the case itself, as indicated, or elsewhere, provided they indicate readily that all the bolts, or other articles, in that horizontal or that particular vertical row are of the same length or class.

It will be evident from the above description, that the mixing of sizes or classes, by having more than one pigeonhole open at the same time, is eficctually prevented. There is no danger of a clerk taking a belt of a certain size from one compartment and throwing it back into an adjacent compartment, which in other constructions might be open. This is often the trouble when drawers, or other independently-opened compartments, are used. The cabinet to the rear of said front is preferably made, as indicated in Fig. l, with the partitions in one direction, such as horizontal, made of wood and the vertical partitions d of sheet metal, located in opposing saw-cuts in the wood partitions. This provides a simple practical construction, and increases the available space for the compartments. If desired, the sheet-metal partition may run in other than vertical directions, as may be determined by circumstances. It will be noted that these doors in my preferred construction do not each slide in two directions; but only those, B, in the vertical rows slide vertically, and only those, B, in the horizontal rows slide horizontally. The vertical row, therefore, acts as a key to all the other rows, and by moving the doors in the vertical row, so that the said clearance-space will be transferred In a large cabinet this system of opening the to any particular row, can that row be opened. front may be duplicated to any extent by placing vertical rows at convenient distances apart. Thus, a man can find the size or compartment desired to be opened, and with one hand operate the vertically-moving doors, and then with the other hand, the horizontallymoving doors; therefore, a convenient distance between the vertical doors acting as keys would be the reach between the hands operating the doors.

It is also evident that the key-doors and the doors locked thereby may change their respective directions of movement, so that the key-doors may slide horizontally and the other doors vertically. The above, however, is the preferred construction for vertical fronts. In cabinets in which the front is horizontal or more or less inclined, the doors may be arranged in either of the above directions.

It is evident that my front and arrangement of doors can be applied to the ordinary pigeonhole-cases which are now in use, by matching the size of the doors to the pigeonholes of the old case. I therefore wish to be distinctly understood as laying claim to this detachable front whether alone or in combination with a compartment cabinet. I have, therefore, shown the said front as secured by screws to the cabinet in the rear.' Any convenient means of attachment may be used.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A cabinet comprising pigeonhole-compartments, sliding doors closing said compartments, one row of said doors being movable vertically, and the other doors horizontally, the said vertical row having tongue-andgroove connection with the adjacent row on each side.

2. A cabinet comprisinga front having horizontal sliding doors, partingstrips forming tracks for said doors, and a row of vertically sliding doors having their top edges in line with the tops of said parting-strips to form continuations of the tracks, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

I ARTHUR D. ACERS. lVitnesses:

W. T. TATE,

A. KINGKADE. 

